Late last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates before traveling on to Turkey and Syria. Commentary on Zelenskyy’s tour of the Middle East and the defense cooperation agreements that Ukraine signed with Saudi Arabia and Qatar have highlighted Kyiv’s emergence as a “drone superpower” and a security provider for the region. This interpretation, however, captures only part of the story. Ukraine’s recent diplomatic outreach to the Middle East, especially its opening to Syria, underscores a growing cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey in the region, marking a shift in the Middle East’s diplomatic alignments and security architecture.
From battlefield innovation to diplomatic breakthrough
Ukraine is not a newcomer to the Middle East. For decades, Ukrainian engineers and specialists were active across the region, contributing to infrastructure, industrial, and military projects. However, these engagements were largely subsumed within the Soviet system, which limited Ukraine’s political agency and independent diplomatic reach. Today, Kyiv is returning to the Middle East as an equal partner—one that has a deep understanding of the region, is not burdened with a history of having been a colonial power in the Middle East, and can offer the expertise required to modernize both Soviet-era weapon systems and indigenous defense technologies.
After more than four years of full-scale war, Ukraine has emerged as a unique source of cutting-edge military innovation and battlefield-tested technology. Having been attacked by well over 100,000 Shahed-type drones since 2022, Ukraine has achieved interception rates exceeding 85 percent—a testament to the depth of its unmatched experience. The intensity of the air strikes, combined with a lack of modern air defense systems, has triggered the development of counter-drone solutions that are highly adaptive, scalable, and remarkably cost-effective.
These capabilities are in high demand in the Middle East, a region increasingly shaped by the impacts of the Iran war, asymmetric threats, and the proliferation of drone warfare. The Gulf states, seeking both enhanced security and greater strategic autonomy, see clear value in Ukrainian technology. Ukraine, in turn, seeks to diversify its partnerships and attract investment into its defense industry at a time when European funding remains constrained. Kyiv is already positioning itself as a provider of practical expertise. Last month, Zelenskyy announced that more than two hundred Ukrainian specialists were deployed in the Middle East to assist regional partners in countering Iranian drones.
While the details of the security agreements Zelenskyy signed with Saudi Arabia and Qatar last month have not been made public, they are widely understood to lay the foundations for a long-term defense cooperation and a win-win exchange: Ukrainian anti-drone expertise and technological know-how in return for financial support, secure energy supplies, and strategic investment.
Zelenskyy’s diplomatic tour signals more than transactional cooperation or commercial deals. It points to a deeper structural transformation unfolding across the region. Kyiv is now operating on its own terms, successfully translating wartime innovation into strategic capital. Ukraine’s approach aligns with the evolving priorities of regional actors that are increasingly focused on diversifying their alliances and reducing reliance on traditional security guarantors, such as the United States or Russia. By offering battle-tested, rapidly deployable, and cost-effective solutions, Ukraine is securing access to much-needed capital, new markets, and political partnerships outside of the Euro-Atlantic space.
Moreover, Ukraine is becoming a valued partner to countries in the region just as Russia’s footprint in the region is fading. Russia’s inability to preserve the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, sustain the rule of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, or assist Armenia during the Karabakh war has demonstrated that Moscow is an unreliable ally. And despite the Kremlin’s economic gains from spiking oil prices and mounting pressure on the United States caused by the Iran war, Russia has gained little politically from the conflict and has suffered a significant reputational blow for its unwillingness to come to Tehran’s aid. In this shifting landscape, Kyiv is proactively reclaiming its political agency in the region and seeking to fill the emerging geopolitical voids.
Beyond defense, Ukraine’s value proposition for Middle Eastern partners includes other areas of cooperation, including energy and connectivity projects linking the Gulf to Europe, food security initiatives, and phosphate markets.
From Syria to the Black Sea
The strategic partnership between Turkey and Ukraine is not new. What’s new is its expansion beyond bilateral cooperation to reinforce each other’s positions across a shared neighborhood through complementary strengths.
Turkey’s role in facilitating Ukraine’s outreach to Syria illustrates this dynamic. Ankara’s established ties with Syria’s post-Assad leadership provide Kyiv with a diplomatic gateway to reestablish its embassy, access new defense markets, and contest Russia’s presence in the country. For Turkey, cooperation with Ukraine enhances its regional leverage and expands its diplomatic clout while allowing Ankara to shape the diplomatic talks it facilitates and the arrangements it brokers.
A visit by a Ukrainian president to Syria, until recently one of the Kremlin’s closest allies, would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Zelenskyy’s visit to Syria on April 5 indicates a major shift in the regional balance of power. Kyiv sees a broad space for diplomatic engagement with the Syrian government led by Ahmed Al-Sharaa. Diplomacy with Syria could yield diplomatic support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and potentially lead to Al-Sharaa closing the Russian military bases in the country. Kyiv could leverage its partnership with Turkey, a close ally of the Al-Sharaa government, to achieve these goals.
This alignment, however, extends well beyond Syria, spanning the Black Sea, the South Caucasus, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Both countries share an interest in deterring Russian military presence and geopolitical influence. For Turkey, supporting Kyiv militarily and diplomatically offers a chance to contain Russia indirectly without openly challenging it. For Ukraine, Turkey’s geopolitical position and regional networks make it a pivotal partner.
The Black Sea has already demonstrated the strategic impact of this cooperation. Ukraine’s success in degrading roughly one-third of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has shifted the regional balance in ways that benefit both Kyiv and Ankara. A similar logic may now be unfolding in the Middle East.
Ukrainian and Turkish defense-industrial capabilities are also likely to play a growing role in shaping Europe’s future security as NATO moves toward greater European-led deterrence and defense. Zelenskyy underscored this point in an interview on April 10, arguing that “without Ukraine and Turkey, Europe cannot match Russia.” Indeed, for Europe to control its seas, secure its skies, and sustain credible land forces, it will need to rely on cooperation with Ukraine and Turkey, as well as the United Kingdom and Norway.
In this context, Ankara’s facilitation of Zelenskyy’s visit to Syria appears not as a one-off move, but an indication of a broader trend. An emerging pattern, in which Ukraine and Turkey act in synergy, is poised to play a larger role in shaping regional security within an increasingly multipolar world.
Yevgeniya Gaber is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council Turkey Program. She previously served as a Ukrainian foreign policy adviser and diplomat, including serving in the Ukrainian embassy in Ankara from 2014 to 2018.
The views expressed in TURKEYSource are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.
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Image: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy walks with Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa as they meet in Damascus, Syria, April 5, 2026. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
